diff between orinoco gold and silver,encryption only or is there a range diff?

[holden j caufield]

also can all the silver's be upgraded via firmware to the gold? thanks

 

[cmetz]

There is no range difference I know of.

The main difference between the two is actually interoperability. A Gold card will interoperate with other cards and APs no matter what WEP key length they're using. A Silver card will interoperate with other cards and APs only if they're using the shortened key length or no WEP. The difference in security between 128(112) and 64(40) bit WEP isn't a whole lot but there is some, and most non-Lucent derived equipment just supports the longer key length in every unit, so sites using non-Lucent equipment should and would tend to have WEP already configured for longer keys. You would not be able to use a Silver card at those sites unless they reconfigured their wireless network for less security, which is not likely for most corporate sites.

So the question you need to consider is what's the difference in cost, and whether you care about interoperability with other people's networks, especially corporate networks.

I don't believe you can just firmware upgrade/hack a Silver to a Gold. In fact I believe they'd go to some trouble to make it so you can't.

 

[stebesplace]

man stay away from orinoco

 

[Daniel]

Originally posted by: stebesplace
man stay away from orinoco

Why? I was under the impression that it was one of the better brands of wireless equipment.

 

[JackMDS]

Orinoco is still the best PCMCIA Card.

However the Orinoco line was acquired by three cooperate owners in the last 18 months, as a result maintaining the support for the product ?stinks?, and a lot of people have drivers problems.

My suggestion buy an Orinoco only if you can return it. If it works it is a Great card. If after few hours of playing around you can not make it work, return immediately.

 

[ktwebb]

Actually it's not the best client card but definitely the best affordable card. If you factor in price point I could see where the Lucent based PC cards would be considered the best. There is a hack out there that turns silver into gold cards if you have a Mac. As far as I know it still only accomplished with a Macintosh.

 

[JackMDS]

Edit in courtesy to ktwebb: ?The Best Affordable Entry Level PCMCIA Wireless Client Card.?

 

[ktwebb]

Your certainly entitled to disagree with my opinion. I wouldn't really have said anything but you put it in bold type. I guess for the sake of this and most BBS's, entry level/SOHO wireless hardware users predominately, the Lucent/Orinoco cards would be considered the best, simply because very few people outside of the business world are going to spend the money on Cisco .11b equipment. While I may come across as a Cisco wireless whore, something that developed over years of installing their Wi-Fi equipment, I have nothing but positive things to say about Orinoco's. Installed enough of that hardware as well to love the stuff. In the end, if the debate is about the best technical 802.11b equipment, regardless of cost, it is a no brainer in my opinion. Cisco everytime. Once finance enters the picture it tends to tilt heavily towards Orinoco. The difference in Orinoco and Cisco wireless equipment is a crack compared to the casm when comparing Orinoco and the rest of the SOHO crowd.